christina valentoni of pbs, senate parliamentarian, elizabeth mcdonough, and sheila casey, the treasurer. let's give our table a round of applause. [applause] before we get to our speaker, i have a few quick thank you's. first, we are all able to enjoy this evening of wonderful food, great conversation, and great speakers thanks to the hard work of our incredible dinner committee, and in particular our dinner co chairs, christina valentoni and david myers. thank you, guys. [applause] and thank you to our amazing executive director, who once again performed her magic to give us this evening. i also wanted to thank the foundation's sponsors and friends. their support makes the work of our foundation possible and helps us put on tonight's event. they are -- toyota, unitedhealth group, cq roll call, the hill, the us chamber of commerce, ford motor company, the national beer wholesalers association, the american petroleum institute, microsoft, and the newspaper association of america. thank you. thanks also to ted benson of cq roll call for providing the cover art for our program, and of cour